Category Archives: DIY

This started as a project in winter to get sunlight into the house, however, it proved a far more challenging task for my non-existent mechanical engineering and fabrications skills. It was therefore well into summer before the project was in a shape wherein it could be documented with some reasonable confidence.

Am writing this blog especially keeping like minded enthusiasts in India in mind, where it is quite difficult (if not impossible) for DIY enthusiasts to get their hands on parts, especially mechanical parts needed for a project like this. I will therefore give a detailed write-up of the struggle and eventual resolution (juggad) which went into making this project a reality.

Let me start by breaking the project into individual sections and then deal with each independently.

Theory

Sun movement - altitude and azimuth

Heliostats – how they work

Heliostat mounts

Mechanical components

Mirror assembly

Vertical mount

Horizontal mount

Electro-mechanical components

Vertical linear actuator

Horizontal linear actuator

Vertical / Horizontal limit sensor

Electronics

Circuit

Fabrication

Control program

Relevant Trigonometry

Final formulas

Arduino Code

Assembly

Verification and correction

Before we get into details of the project / construction itself, i will list down the material, tools, equipment and skills needed to execute this project. As you will see this is neither trivial not cheap especially if you don’t already have a lot of equipment already with you. So please review this in details before you really get into this project

BIll of Material

Material

Specification

Qty

Required For

Source / Where to buy

Glass Mirror

1mX1m

1

Angle Iron

25×3

Local Steel dealers for home construction work

Iron Tube (square)

1”x1”

Welding Rod

Local hardware or welding equipment shop

Pillow Bearings

04

Local hardware shop or better still find a shops dealing in

Pipe

0/5m

2m

2pc

1pc

Local sanitary / plumbing shop

Plywood

01

Bearing

01

Nuts and bolts

08

T Joint

½”

01

Local sanitary / plumbing shop

Heavy Metal Hinges

Hex Nuts

Turning rod

Stepper Motor

5V, ..

01

Adrunido MCU

Uno or ..

01

Power Adaptor

5V 3Amp

Aluminium Pipe

Coupling for

PCB

PCB Connector

Connector

02

To stepper

Micro switch

Bolts

08

Plastic enclosure

01

Arduino

Plastic enc

02

Motor

Silicone sealant

RTC clock for Arduino

Motor Coupling

Grip Nuts

Mechanical components

Mirror assembly

Vertical mount

Horizontal mount

Aim – Rotate a 1mX1m mirror around both the horizontal and vertical axis

List of material

Material

Specification

Qty

Source / Where to buy

Glass Mirror

1mX1m

1

Angle Iron

25×3

Local Steel dealers for home construction work

Welding Rod

Local hardware or welding equipment shop

Pillow Bearings

04

Local hardware shop or better still find a shops dealing in

Pipe

0/5m

2m

2pc

1pc

Local sanitary / plumbing shop

Plywood

01

Bearing

01

Nuts and bolts

08

T Joint

½”

01

Local sanitary / plumbing shop

List of tools

Tool

Specification

Why is it needed

Where to buy

C Clamp

Mulitple size

Corner Clamp

Adjustable Spanner

Welding Helmet

Protect your eyes from the welding

Welding Gloves

Ear Muffs

Pwer Drills

Drill Bits – Stell

Drill Bits – Masonry

Levelling Device

List of special equipment (not in normal home workshops)

Chop Saw – you could use a Angle grinder with a cutting wheel, but believe me getting a chop saw makes the whole thing so much simpler

Angle Grinder. Initially i tried to get a mitre saw, but those were just too expensive.

Remote data logging with Arduino – Bringing it all together…

Now that we have all the pieces, to tie them all togethers we need to configure our Mango M2M server to accept the data from the base unit and do some additional computations on top of those to drive more meaningful information vs just data.

You may want to familiarise yourself with key mango m2m concepts here.

The way i have setup my M2M box is to log raw data point from the arduino, and then to each of those apply the necessary calculations to arrive at the needed information. To do this i have setup two data sources

HTTP receiver

Contains all data points which are updated by the java application thats acts like the bridge between the base arduino and the mango m2m instance. To set this up :-

Mango M2M setup on a Ubuntu server is fairly straightforward, so i won’t go into too much details on the basic steps involved other than direct you to appropriate links :-

1. Install Linux (I used the Ubuntu server version) on any desktop or laptop with a working USB connection. We will use USB connection later to connect to the Arduino base transreceiver. Detailed Ubuntu server installation instructions here

To keep a track of various environmental parameters and use them for intelligent home control, sometime back I set off on this journey to setup a remote data logging system using Arduinos and open source M2M software.

First, the hardware used :-

Arduinos – pretty much any model will do. At a minimum you need two, one for the base receiver and the other for the remote data capture / control unit.

Mango M2M. I got a second hand laptop for Rs.3000/-, converted it into a linux server with Ubuntu Server and installed Mango M2M on it.